Vignette Illustrating Torquato Tasso's "Gerusalemme Liberata" (X:78)
This elegantly rendered pastoral scene was conceived by Giovan Battista Piazzetta as a preliminary study for the engraving on folio 126 bis recto of the 1745 edition of Torquato Tasso’s epic masterpiece "La Gerusalemme Liberata" (Jerusalem Delivered). The Museum also owns the 1745 edition of the "Gerusalemme" (inv. 37.36.1), which was published in Venice by Giambattista Albrizzi.
The scale of the figures in the drawing and the print are the same. However, the print is a more naturalistic scene with figures in a pyramidal grouping resting on solid ground, as opposed to the more decorative conception in the drawing, with figures crowded into a trapezoidal-shaped vignette supported by a decorative console. The expanded spatial conception of the print appears to account for a few specific differences: The head of a stag, which in the drawing is tied to a tree, is more obviously represented in the print as a trophy on the ground at lower left that supports a reclining putto. The central, female figure who in the drawing gazes at the two putti to her left, stares into the foreground of the print in the direction of the viewer. Also, the drawing omits the two dead rabbits seen in the right foreground of the print.
The scale of the figures in the drawing and the print are the same. However, the print is a more naturalistic scene with figures in a pyramidal grouping resting on solid ground, as opposed to the more decorative conception in the drawing, with figures crowded into a trapezoidal-shaped vignette supported by a decorative console. The expanded spatial conception of the print appears to account for a few specific differences: The head of a stag, which in the drawing is tied to a tree, is more obviously represented in the print as a trophy on the ground at lower left that supports a reclining putto. The central, female figure who in the drawing gazes at the two putti to her left, stares into the foreground of the print in the direction of the viewer. Also, the drawing omits the two dead rabbits seen in the right foreground of the print.
Artwork Details
- Title: Vignette Illustrating Torquato Tasso's "Gerusalemme Liberata" (X:78)
- Artist: Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, Venice 1682–1754 Venice)
- Date: 1745
- Medium: Red chalk over traces of graphite
- Dimensions: sheet: 8 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. (21 x 16.5 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
- Object Number: 49.19.43
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
1738 (?)
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
18th–19th century
Multiple artists/makers
1740
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
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